Bold and ambitious mages, whose eyes are set on wizardly prestige—welcome to Arcane Knowledge, a mini-series of mini-articles exploring a few fascinating facets of the fast-paced rogue-lite’s development, from its renewed emphasis on character-driven storytelling to its expanded options for build-crafting.
What secrets shall we scry?
More magic = more better
Wielding the elements in all their destructive majesty is what the Wizard of Legend experience is all about—and this is precisely what Dead Mage is aiming to build on in Wizard of Legend 2. The goal is to give you the widest possible palette of magical tools to experiment with as you assemble your ideal arsenal of Arcana, the spells you wield during your runs.
As we discussed in our Legendary Wizarding 101 preview, wizards will start each run by choosing a loadout of Basic, Signature, and Standard Arcana from six elemental schools, with opportunities to acquire even more during their trials—but your Arcana will continue to evolve as you get further into your run.
“A big priority for us was to add a variety of enhancements that players can apply to each Arcana,” says Aryan Bina, game director of Wizard of Legend 2. “We want to offer players interesting choices for every Arcana. We’re hoping that this variety will encourage players to experiment and find clever and unexpected applications for their favorites.”
Bina conjures up Dragon Dive, a ranged Arcana, as an example of how enhancements can change your play. “It summons tunneling dragons to repel enemies, but its enhancements offer different strategies. Dragon Ride allows the player to teleport at the end of the dragons, facilitating rapid repositioning and enemy confusion. For those who prefer a combination of melee and ranged combat, you could choose the Returning Dragon enhancement, which performs a distant attack and pulls enemies closer for melee Arcana attacks.”
Factor in Arcana upgrades (which are applied independently from enhancements) as well as Relics (powerful ability-altering items that are returning from from the original Wizard of Legend) and you have a dizzying array of arcane build-crafting ahead of you.
And of course, Wizard of Legend veterans should expect some all-new Arcana in the magical mix. Some of Dead Mage’s favorites include Earthclap, a thunderous area-of-effect ability that’s good for grouping-up enemies for further comboing, and Monk Strike, a fast-hitting close-range attack that’ll surely become a standby for melee mages.
Coming up next…facing the inevitable
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2193540/Wizard_of_Legend_2/